Monday, October 31, 2016

Plainfield City Council
meets for its only November session Tuesday (November 1) at Clinton
Elementary School, Clinton Avenue at West 4th Street. The combined
agenda and business meeting gets under way at 7:00 PM.

At the time, NAACP President Peter Briggs publicly apologized for the lapse and the post was deleted.

Though the current post has been deleted from Facebook, no apology appears to have been issued.

This present incident just underscores my reference to Robinson-Briggs being "Trumpish" at this past week's League of Women Voters forum.

Not only did she -- like Trump -- have vague program ideas with no
acknowledgment of their true costs, and -- again, like Trump -- focus on
her grudges and grievances, now she has added another Trump-like quality: disregard for the integrity of long-established principles.

Two thoughts come to mind: First, all of these are plenty good reasons to steer clear of Sharon Robinson-Briggs on November 8.

Second, maybe it's time for the New Jersey NAACP to clean house in the Plainfield chapter.

Friday, October 28, 2016

The Recreation Division's annual Doggy Howl costume eventis one of this weekend's many Plainfield happenings.

Busy Halloween Plainfield weekend --

SATURDAY

7TH STREET CLEANUP

Councilor Barry Goode's 'Clean The Queen' campaign is joined by the folks from Queen City Pride in a cleanup targeting Seventh Street.Beginning at Plainfield Avenue
and West 7th Street at 9:00 AM, volunteers will pick up trash along
Seventh Street between Plainfield Avenue and Leland Avenue. Rakes, bags,
gloves and water will be supplied.Time: 9:00 AM to Noon.

DOGGY HOWL

Plainfield dogs and their pals get their chance for a Halloween Howl at the annual Doggy Howl costume event at City Hall.Awards will be given for the best-dressed duos (dogs and owners).This Recreation Division sponsored free event takes place in City Hall parking lot from Noon to 1:00 PM (awards at 12:30).

1967 REBELLION REMEMBERED

Frontiers
International's Plainfield Chapter presents its annual Westry Horne
Cultural and Heritage event Saturday, entitled "The Plainfield Riot Rebellion 50 Years Later: A Retrospective".Plainfield was one of hundreds of US communities where such events took place between 1965 and 1968.The program features several Plainfielders who were there -- including Agurs Cathcart, Warren Blackshear and Nancy Jordan. Attendees will be invited to share their recollections.The event is free. Light refreshments will be served.At Washington Community School, 426 Darrow Avenue, from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM. Parking available in the Spooner Avenue lot and on the street.

SUNDAY

SPOOKY CEMETERY TALES

The Drake House Museum
is holding a spooky Halloween treat on Sunday afternoon with "Halloween
Adventures: Local Cemetery Stories".Youngsters of all ages will enjoy these timely tales. The program is free. Light refreshments will be served.The Drake House Museum is at 602
West Front Street (at the foot of Plainfield Avenue). For more
information, call (908) 755-5831 or visit the website at www.drakehouseplainfieldnj.org/.

MONDAY

TRUNK OR TREAT

The Recreation Division's tremendously popular Annual Trunk & Treat takes place Monday in the City Hall paring lot.There will be a costume parade. Prizes will be given for best family costume and for best trunk. The event is for children ages 12 and under.Starting at 6:00 PM until the candy runs out. Awards will be given out at 6:30 PM.

Plainfield's League of Women Voters hosted a forum for the Ward 3 candidates Wednesday evening at the Plainfield Public Library.

Facing off were Democratic party nominee Charles McRae and former mayor
Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who is running as an Independent.

Joylette Mills-Ransome of the Plainfield League introduced the moderator, Sandra Matsen, a former president of the NJ state LWV.

The candidates made opening statements citing their background,
involvement in the community and reasons for running. The information is
also available in their profiles on the League's website here.

Because there were no mikes for the candidates at their table, they took
turns speaking from the podium, while the moderator worked without a
mike. Plainfielders are great at improvising.

The candidates offered their views on a number of questions, some posed
by the League and most coming from the audience. Topics included the
standard "what will you do?", as well as issues such as dealing with
Council friction, veterans' services, youth needs, the Muhlenberg
Hospital campus, quality-of-life issues, economic development, senior citizen concerns and perceptions of Plainfield.

Things shook out quite quickly.

McRae, with his experience in reviewing the City's budget process and
service on the Zoning Board, emphasized the progress being made under
Mayor Adrian Mapp's leadership and his intent to work with the Mapp administration to push the city forward.

Robinson-Briggs was more Trump-like in her answers, often referring to
wanting to provide FREE new or extended services, but with no clear plan
for financing the costs of her wish list. She, also Trumplike, did not
miss an opporutnity throughout the evening to take swipes at Mayor Mapp,
Councilor Rebecca Williams and yours truly, all of whom were cited as
having worked at cross-purposes to her when she was mayor.

Controlling costs were always a problem for Robinson-Briggs as mayor, who treated the city's funds cavalierly, to say the least.

McRae pointed out that, as a member of the Citizens Budget Advisory
Committee, he caught a $1 million+ error in the budget that
Robinson-Briggs had submitted (he politely refrained from naming her,
only saying it was during a 'previous administration').

When Robinson-Briggs said she wanted to see the city operate a youth
center, McRae responded by asking why it wouldn't be better to work with existing agencies to expand or improve their programming.

He cited a list that include the Second Street Youth Center, the YMCA,
the Boys & Girls Club and the Washington and Emerson Community
Schools.

When Robinson-Briggs protested that the schools charge for use of the
buildings, McRae pointed out that the Mapp administration had signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with the school district, eliminating fees
for use of the school properties. The exchange showed that
Robinson-Briggs has lost touch with what is happening in the community
since she left office.

Another example of her being out of touch came with her complaint about
the new ABC Building Supplies warehouse going up on South Second Street,
as part of a project that will also include a 90-unit apartment
complex. She complained that it was taking place in a residential
neighborhood (not exactly true: it's on the site of a former factory
building) and sits across from a church (where she worships) --
completely ignoring that the church's pastor, a sitting Council member, was a passionate advocate for the project.

Robinson-Briggs also said sne wanted to see the city establish a
"training center" for jobs. She made a good point that job fairs do not
help those who have not got the skilss being looked for. However, she
seemed to be unaware of the efforts already being made (for instance, by
the Plainfield Public Library and Union County College) to address the
issue. She had no answer for how such a facility would be funded, where
it would be located or how it would be staffed. Trumplike again.

On the question of development of the vacant Muhlenberg property,
Robinson-Briggs dodged the fact that as a Muhlenberg board member she
never attended a single meeting during her two terms in office -- which
included the period when JFK closed the hospital and its subsequent
proposal for 600+ units of "luxury" apartments.

McRae emphasized his support for the efforts of the Mapp administration
to come to a meeting of the minds with JFK that included a medical-related use for the property. He pointed out that the city does not control the property, which is owned by JFK.

As is usual with events that start at 7:00 PM, the audience bulked up as
the evening went along, with perhaps 75-80 there at the end.

Though I am no fan of Robinson-Briggs, I went with the expectation that
she would be more forward-looking and --with all her experience --
detail-oriented in her proposals.

Instead, she blew a lot of snoke with vague ideas and took pains at
every turn to underscore her opposition to Mayor Mapp. Implied, though
unspoken, was that if elected, she would guarantee that a rancorous
Council -Administration relationship would continue. All very
reminiscent of Donald Trump to my mind.

The general election is on Tuesday, November 8. The polls will be open from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Building on the
success of last winter's Youth Summit, Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp
and the City of Plainfield are collaborating once again with the
Grassroots Community Foundation to present a two-part program aimed at
creating strategies for a more harmonious community. The title of the
program is "Peaceful Plainfield: Strategizing for a Peaceful Future".

Drawing on the deep connections established with Plainfield youth by the
Youth Summit, the program will expand the discussion by including
thought leaders, community activists and business leaders as the
community looks forward.

Both segments of the program are free and the public is warmly invited to attend.

The program is being coordinated by Dr. Janice Johnson Dias, president
of the Foundation. For more about the Grassroots Community Foundation,
see its website here.

THURSDAY: RECEPTION AND SHORT DOCUMENTARY

The program begins with a reception hosted by Mayor Mapp on at the Plainfield Public Library on Thursday evening (October 27).During the reception, a very short
documentary film -- Bullets Without Names -- will be shown. The
9-minute documentary chronicles the experiences of a young Black male
survivor of a gunshot incident (more about the film at IMDB here).Plainfield youth will have an
opportunity at the screening to express their ideas about combating
violence -- and especially gun violence -- in the community.The reception runs from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

FRIDAY: STAKEHOLDER ROUNDTABLE

On Friday morning (October 28), the program continues with a roundtable discussion to which stakeholders have been invited.The keynote speaker for the Friday portion of the program is Dr. Joseph Richardson of the University of Maryland, who holds PhD from Rutgers School of Criminal Justice.The roundtable will also include opportunities to hear from our youth as well as national and local leaders on how to mobilize and unify to combat violence in our community.The Roundtable begins at 10:00 AM and runs to 1:00 PM.

Both the Reception and the Roundtable will be held in the Plainfield
Public Library's Anne Louise Davis Meeting Room. For more information,
contact Jazz Clayton-Hunt at (908) 226-2507.

The Plainfield Public Library is at Park Avenue and West 8th Street and
is an accessible facility. Parking is available in the 8th and 9th
Street lots.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Rebecca Williams, Charles McRae and Linda Carterare on the November ballot, Column A.

With two weeks to go in the 2016 election season,
Plainfield Democratic City Council candidates Charles McRae and Rebecca
Williams will be the guests of honor at a fundraiser on Tuesday evening
(October 25).

Rebecca is unopposed as the Citywide at-large candidate, having defeated incumbent Tracey Brown in the June Democratic primary.

Charles also won his June primary race, defeating Alma Blanco. In
November, he faces former mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who is running
as an Independent.

The cocktail reception is being hosted by Mayor Adrian O. Mapp and First
Lady Amelia Mapp at their home, St. George's Manor, 535 West 8th
Street. It will run from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Rebecca and Charles are part of the Democratic Column A slate, which is
headed by Hillary Clinton for president, Bonnie Watson Coleman for
Congress, and Plainfield's own Linda Carter, as well as Betty Jane "BJ"
Kowalski and Sergio Granados for Freeholders.

Suggested donation for the fundraiser is $250. Checks may be made payable to "Rebecca Williams 2016 for Council", "Charles McRae 2016 for Council", or the "Plainfield Democratic City Committee".

Wednesday evening, the Plainfield chapter of the League of Women Voters
will present the 2016 Candidate Forum between McRae and Robinson-Briggs.
(By LWV rules, only positions with opposing candidates take part in the forums.)

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Candidates for the Ward 3 seat will take part in Wednesday'sPlaianfield League of Women Voters forum.

For ninety-six years, Plainfield's chapter of the League of Women
Voters (LWV) has hosted candidate forums to introduce candidates
to the public and provide an opportunity for them to discuss their
views on issues of interest to the community.

The LWV will offer its 2016 Candidate Forum this Wednesday
(October 26) in the Anne Louise Davis Room of the Plainfield
Public Library. The forum starts promptly at 7:00 PM.

Charles McRae, Democratic candidate for the Ward 3 Council seat
will face off against former mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who is
running as an Independent.

Each candidate has provided their background information and
answers to questions posed by the League. That information is
available online at the League's website here.

According to LWV rules, only candidates for positions that are contested
take part in its forums, which means that Rebecca Williams, who is
running unopposed as the Democratic candidate for the Citywide at-large seat, will not be part of the forum.

Come a few minutes early and take in the excellent exhibit of
photographs of Plainfield life and people from the Library's extensive
historic collection that is currently on display in the ALD Gallery.

The Plainfield Public Library is at Park Avenue and West 8th Street and
is an accessible facility. Parking is available in the 8th and 9th
Street lots.

Plainfield's stunning public library will hostSaturday's Tri-County History Fair.

Plainfield offers two great activities this weekend --

SATURDAY: TRI-COIUNTY HISTORY FAIR

Those interested in
African American genealogy will be pleased that the NJ chapter of the
Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society will be at the free
Saturday event to answer questions and help with family research. The event is at the Plainfield Public Library from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.The fair, hosted by the Plainfield
Public Library, includes historical organizations from the
Union-Somerset-Middlesex area as well as other vendors -- including
Innovative Document Imaging, which converts documents to digital formats.There will be a presentation on historical property ownership, as well as free antique appraisals. (Appraisals are by ADVANCE registration; call (908) 757-111 x136 Friday to register.)Attendees will be entered in a drawing for free Ancestry DNA testing kits.Twenty organizations will be on hand to share thier areas of interest.The Plainfield Public Library is
at Park Avenue and West 8th Street and is an accessible facility.
Parking is available in the 8th and 9th Street lots. For more
information about library hours and programs, visit the library's
website at www.plainfieldlibrary.info/.

SUNDAY: QUEEN CITY PRIDE PARK AVENUE CLEANUP

Queen City Pride (QCP) volunteers continue their enthusiastic cleanup efforts this Sunday -- focusing on Park Avenue.The cleanup is slated from 8:00 AM
to 10:00 AM. Volunteers will gather at Park Avenue and Sloane Boulevard
and work one side of the street up to Seventh Street and then back down
the other side of the street to the starting point.Queen City Pride is also taking
down those annoying "We Buy Houses" and other illegal signs posted on
telephone poles. So far the total is more than 350, with more being
taken down every day. if you spot a sign, alert them by email at queencitypridenj@gmail.com and they will take it down.You can follow QCP activities on their Facebook page here.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Ever found your Facebook account had suspicious or embarrassing messages sent to all your friends?

Ever gotten a call from a friend saying they had gotten a strange email from you and were checking whether you really sent it?

If so, you've been hacked.

Plainfield is offering a free opportunity to understand how it happens
and how to guard against cyberthreats to your personal computer or your
business.

Anyone who uses the Internet is vulnerable to have their address book
hijacked, their identity stolen, and their business disrupted or even
bankrupted by malicious hacks and frauds.

Anyone whose business depends on employees using computers and internet access needs this informative workshop to protect their business.

A free workshop on Wednesday (October 19) hosted by the City of
Plainfield and presented by cybersecurity expert Chris Reid of
Palindrome Technologies will inform and give you tools and knowledge to
combat hackers of all sorts.

Chris will discuss the various types of cyberattacks you may experience
and what harm they can do to you. He will also give you tips and
techniques to avoid being hacked, and what to do if you are hacked.

There will be a question-and-answer period following his presentation.

The free workshop runs from 6:00 to 7:30 PM in the Anne Louise Davis Meeting Room of the Plainfield Public Library.

The Plainfield Public Library is at Park Avenue and West 8th Street and
is an accessible facility. Parking is available in the 8th and 9th
Street lots. For more information about this program, call (908)
226-2502.

(Attendees will have time afterward to make it over to Plainfield
Democratic Headquarters (31 Watchung Avenue) for the presidential
debate-watching party, which begins at 8:00 PM.)

Sunday, October 16, 2016

The third (and final) presidential debate on Wednesdaypits Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump.

Plainfield Democratic Headquarters will host a community debate-watching
party on Wednesday (October 19) as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off in the
third, and final, presidential debate.

Clinton and Trump will meet at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for the final match.

Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace will be the moderator. Wallace will
get a lot of scrutiny, as have the previous two debates' hosts. The
format for Wednesday will be like the first debate, with six fifteen
minute segments.

Those segments are devoted to the following topics --

Immigration;

Entitlements and debt (an attack on Social Security?);

The Supreme Court;

The economy;

Foreign policy; and

Each candidate's fitness to serve as president.

The watch party gets under way at 8:00 PM and the debate runs from 9:00 to 10:30 PM.

All are invited. Bring some party fare and/or beverage to share.

Plainfield Democratic Headquarters is at 31 Watchung Avenue (next to Antojito's Restaurant). Parking available in the public lot on Watchung Avenue.

Friday, October 14, 2016

The Drake House is featured in "Four Centuries in a Weekend"this Saturday and Sunday among other weekend activities.

Another busy weekend in Plainfield --

DEM HEADQUARTERS KICKOFF

The Plainfield
Democratic City Committee will meet at 10:00 AM on Saturday morning to
vote on adopting the proposed bylaws and to kick off the finall push for
the November general election.The meeting will be led by
chairman Adrian O. Mapp. Candidates will be on hand. Coffee and donuts
for all, and opportunities to sign up for campaign activities in the
office and at the polls on election day (November 8). See my full post here.Plainfield Democratic Headquarters is at 31 Watchung Avenue (next to Antojito's Restaurant). Parking in the public lot on Watchung Avenue.

DRAKE HOUSE EVENTS

This weekend is the annual Union County "Four Centuries In A Weekend", in which all of the county's historical sites and museums will be open with special programming.Plainfield's own Drake House Museum will be open on Saturday from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM and on Sunday from Noon to 5:00 PM.According to Historical Society
president Nancy Piwowar, there will be a lecture on each day at 2:00 PM
on the role of African Americans in the Plainfield area in the
Revolutionary War -- featuring profiles of Caesar, Robert Aaron, Ambo and
others.The Drake House Museum at 602 West Front Street (at the foot of Plainfield Avenue).

CLEANUPS CONTINUE

The weekend community cleanups continue.Queen City Pride (see their
Facebook page here) is joining with Councilor Barry Goode's "Clean The
Queen" initiative this Saturday from 9:00 AM to Noon.This weekend's focus is East
Second Street. Volunteers will start at East Second and Richmond and
work their way to end at Berkeley Terrace and East Second Street.Gloves, rakes, bags and water will be provided (thanks to John Louise and crew!).For more information, contact
Councilor Barry Goode at (908) 295-2456CORRECTED NUMBER: (908) 295-2486 or email Queen City
Pride at queencitypride@gmail.com.

When you're done with all that, take some time to enjoy the fall colors -- leaves are coming into their prime colors over the next few days.

Bright blue United cabs are one of four companies operating in Plainfield.

About thirty taxi cab owners and drivers, along with family members,
came to Tuesday's Plainfield City Council meeting to bring their
concerns over unfair competition to the Council's attention.

The group represented Plainfield's four taxi companies, which can be identified by their cabs' colors: Caribe (orange sherbet), Liberty (red), Queen City Yellow (chrome yellow), and United (blue).

Saying the four companies represent approximaely 100 jobs, they
complained that unfair competition from unlicensed and uninsured "gypsy"
cabs as well as North Plainfield's Soria taxis are undercutting their ability to make a living.

Soria has been the source of complaints for years, as their cabs both
stop for street hails and pickup at various Plainfield locations (such
as Supremo and Twin City), both in violation of the statutes.

Out-of-town cab companies may deliver passengers to Plainfield, but are prohibited from picking up fares within the city limits.

The fare structure for the Plainfield cab companies is regulated by
ordinance, and one complaint is that fares are undercut by both Soria and the gypsies.

Council members listened attentively and seemed generally supportive, as
did City Administrator Rick Smiley and Public Safety Director Carl
Riley.

The problem, as Riley pointed out, is that the police must catch a
driver in the act of picking up an illegal fare. When they see it
happen, they take action, but there simply aren't the resources to dedicate officers to pursuing violators.

I wonder if the City could help by running a public awareness campaign
to educate the general public on the benefits of using only legal and
licensed taxis.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Tuesday evening's Plainfield City Council meeting was not quite as quiet s its agenda suggested.

With only five members present (Council President Storch is away and Councilor Toliver was absent), the group
was at first unable to select someone as President pro-tem. Finally,
after several misstarts, Councilor Taylor got enough votes to become
queen bee for the night.

However, that meant that someone had to replace her as chair of the
committee of the whole. Councilor Williams nominated Councilor Brown,
who was elected and the meeting was set to get under way after Municipal
Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh distributed the appropriate scripts to the players.

Councilor Barry Goode updated the Council and the audience on his "Clean
The Queen" cleanup initiative, noting it will continue this Saturday
(October 15) from 9:00 AM to Noon, starting at East 2nd Street and
Richmond Avenue and ending at East 2nd Street and Berkeley Terrace.

An ordinance (MC 2016-16) adding two parking areas to Title 39 coverage
was passed unanimously on second reading without comment from the
public.

There were no comments from the public on agenda items.

Twenty of the 28 resolutions were adopted by consent.

Of the eight requiring votes, six were passed without comment, and one (344-16, calling for the purchase of 5 high-def dome cameras) was withdrawn.

Among other things, she objected that the information supplied by the
Administration as a result of her request at last week's agenda-setting session did not provide the details she had requested.

After torturing Director of Administration and Finance Ron West for several minutes, the matter was brought to a vote.

And defeated, with Councilor Goode and Williams for, Councilors Rivers and Taylor against the motion, and Councilor Brown abstaining.

Several people spoke during open public comment --

John Pritchard reminded all how important it was to bring back Muhlenberg Hospital;

Timothy Priano cited
numerous issues with street and property cleanliness, dumpsters, and
illegal apartments. He presented City Administrator Rick Smiley with a
collection of illegal signs Queen City Pride had removed from telephone
poles and urged the numbers be called and issued "cease and desist" warnings; and

Sal Carrano had
questions about how NJ Water goes about notifyinng ratepayers of work on
replacing lines from the street, citing several issues ranging from brown water to pipes bursting from not being able to handle the new pressure.

There was also a large
delegation of Plainfield taxi cab owners and drivers who complained of
unfair competition from gypsy drivers and North Plainfield's Soria cabs,
which are picking up customers in Plainfield in violation of the law. I
will take their issues up in a separate post.

The next meeting of the City Council will be a combined agenda
and business session on Tuesday, November 1st at 7:00 PM at Clinton
Elementary School, Clinton Avenue at West 4th Street.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Part of the "A" Team: Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Colemanand Council candidates Charles McRae and Rebecca Williams.

Plainfield Democrats will kick off the November general election campaign at party headquarter, 31 Watchung Avenue, on Saturday (October 15).

A 10:00 AM meeting of the Plainfield Democratic City Committee has been
scheduled, at which action will be taken on the proposed bylaws changes
outlined at the last meeting on September 24 (see post here).

PDCC chairperson Adrian O. Mapp will lead a discussion of plans for support of the Clinton/Kaine campaign and the rest of the Column A team, which includes --

Bonnie Watson Coleman for Congress

Linda Carter, "BJ" Kowalski, and Sergio Granados for Freeholders

Rebecca Williams for Citywide at-large Council

Charles McRae for Ward 3 Council

Attendees will also have an opportunity to sign up for Election Day assignments either working the polls or phoning from headquarters.

Coffee and donuts will be served and guest are warmly invited.

Plainfield Democratic headquarters is at 31 Watchung Avenue (next to
Antojito's Restaurant). Parking available in the public lot off Watchung
Avenue. Headquarters phone number is (908) 205-8984.

Plainfield resident since 1983. Retired as the city's Public Information Officer in 2006; prior to that Community Programs Coordinator for the Plainfield Public Library. Founding member and past president of: Faith, Bricks & Mortar; Residents Supporting Victorian Plainfield; and PCO (the outreach nonprofit of Grace Episcopal Church). Supporter of the Library, Symphony and Historic Society as well as other community groups, and active in Democratic politics.